Robert Ajayi Boroffice

Professor Robert Ajayi Boroffice (born 23 April 1949) is a Nigerian academic and public servant who was elected Senator for Ondo North, in Ondo State, Nigeria on 9 April 2011.

Early career

Boroffice was born on 23 April 1949 in Oka-Akoko, Ondo State, South Western, Nigeria. He became a lecturer at the University of Ibadan in 1975, and Professor of Zoology at the Lagos State University in 1986. He has conducted research at the post-doctoral level in the areas of human congenital malformations, carcinogenesis and mutagenesis. He also held administrative positions at the Lagos State University including Head of Department, Dean of Faculty, and Chairman of the Committee of Deans.^[1]

Public servant

Boroffice was appointed Coordinating Director for Science in the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) in 1992. His main focus in this job was on biotechnology, Information and Communication Technology and Space Science and Technology. He played a central role in establishing the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA).^[1] In 1999 Boroffice became the founding Director General of NASRDA, a post he held for 10 years. Under his leadership, NASRDA launched 2 satellites; a low orbit earth observations microsatellite (NigeriaSat-1) in 2003 and a communication satellite (NigcomSat-1) in 2007.^[2] He also laid the groundwork for the building of NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X, which were launched in August 2011, from Russia.^[3]

In 2004, for his outstanding service to the Nigerian people, Robert Boroffice was conferred the title of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) by President Olusegun Obasanjo.^[1] In March 2011, Boroffice was given the 2011 Golden Merit Award in Space Science by the World Federation of Science Journalists.^[4]

Political career

Boroffice faced little opposition in his bid to become Labour Party candidate for the Ondo North Senatorial District. He gained the support of traditional rulers in the Akoko area of Ondo State.^[5] In an interview before the April elections he criticized politicians who lacked integrity and honor, making promises they could not keep in order to get elected, and then focusing on making money once elected.^[6] In the election, Boroffice gained 84,290 votes. Runners up were the incumbent Senator Bode Olajumoke of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) with 51,112 votes and Agunloye Olu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with 36,601 votes.^[7]

On December 28, 2011, Boroffice officially decamped to the Action Congress of Nigeria so that he can pursue his ambition of becoming the next governor of Ondo state.^[8] Later on, he decamped to the All Progressives Congress the current ruling party.

References